


head down

by bluehasnoclues



Series: soldier [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Not Beta Read, Not really violence but vague descriptions of death, Pre-Chuunin Exams, if youve read the first one like you shouldve then its basically the same thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 22:23:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18860311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluehasnoclues/pseuds/bluehasnoclues
Summary: Sakura sees so, so much.





	head down

**Author's Note:**

> every title in this soon-to-be-series comes from fleurie’s song [soldier](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYsD40ifj-c) bc I'm uncreative and also I like it

Sakura smiles when she sees Ino. It’s not mocking or cruel like it would have been a month ago; their rivalry can be put on hold for a few minutes, considering the circumstances.

“Ino,” Sakura greets, feeling so light and happy that she takes a deep breath to control herself. Ino returns her grin.

Hours later, Sakura is sprawled out on her friend’s bed, her head on Ino’s lap as the blonde runs gentle hands through her hair.

“I can’t believe you fought _Momochi Zabuza,”_ Ino groans. “You have — _the worst luck,_ Sakura.”

Sakura debates telling her about their death, about the God; about her eyes and the devastating blankness that Ino’s gaze would hold after her spirit has left her body.

But the room is calm and Sakura wants anything but to disturb the tentative peace, so newly won as it is. After all, Ino has yet to learn about Inner — who, come to think of it, has been conspicuously missing — and Sakura has seen her friend’s tendency to overreact to surprises.

(Not that much would be an _over_ reaction in this case, Sakura thinks, but the point remains.)

“You can stay for dinner,” Ino offers, uncharacteristically hesitant, “if you want.” For a long moment Sakura is tempted, but —

“No,” She says. “But, sometime this week, maybe?”

Ino grins. “Tomorrow, then. And you can’t back out this time, Forehead.”

Sakura’s smile is genuine, and she doesn’t bother to duk her head to hide it, as she would have a month ago.

“It’s good to be back, Pig.”

It’s good to have you back.

 

Kakashi is late, but this time, Sakura does not sit down. She looks at her team; woefully unprepared, naive, overconfident; they have massive potential, but little skill.

“I went to the library,” Sakura starts. She ignores the incredulous glance from Sasuke and the disgusted one from Naruto.

 _“Why,_ Sakura-chan,” Naruto mutters, letting his body fall onto the ground. (The grass around him withers and dies; oddly enough, Naruto is unchanged, and Sakura wonders.) He watches her curiously.

“Kakashi-sensei isn’t going to be here for a while.” Even after Zabuza, even after Haku; perhaps especially after them. “I thought we could learn something on our own.”

She had thought about it for a while. Her team needs help, but two-thirds of them are stubborn and bursting to the brim with pride; if nothing changes, that will likely be their downfall. Sakura would prefer they don’t have a downfall at all, but, if they do — it will be because of someone else, not something they had done (or rather, what they had _not_ done.)

“Ooh, Sakura-chan, what is it?” Naruto sits up, a grin jumping onto his face. His blue eyes are alight with anticipation, and something else, something almost like resignation. (Sakura wonders — just what has the world done to this boy?)

“I thought we could —” She barely begins before pausing, a flicker at the corner of her eye. “Oh. He’s here, nevermind.”

Kakashi’s expression is unreadable as he appears in front of them, and Sakura almost feels uncomfortable as he scrutinizes her. Not quite, though; after everything, she thinks that it would take more than an interested look from her sensei to make her nervous. Besides, after she left Ino, the lightness faded away, and now she feels just as detached as she had before.

Still. His posture is carefully relaxed; Sakura is very aware of who her sensei is, and inexplicably, her first thought is _this is someone who will fight Death yet go gladly into his arms._

“Maa, Sakura-chan, trying to steal my job?” Kakashi drawls. His hands are in his pockets and his hair looks even more unruly than it usually is. Sakura shrugs, watching the ground in feigned embarrassment. Anything she could say would too likely sound false on her lips.

It is a surprise, yet none at all, when they are promptly given a D-rank. For her single-minded focus of before, she gets distracted almost worryingly easy. She doesn’t feel present as she picks weeds and prunes trees; she is floating, above, connected but separate. Her feet and hands move without her consciousness, dragging her along as her mind wanders.

Kakashi’s eye (stolen; she almost doesn’t want to know what Sasuke is thinking, but she knows it is pained) would explain the new tension that has made itself a home inside of Sakura’s shoulders. Sakura very much wants to tell Kakashi to talk to her hurting teammate, but it is not her place. (Not much seems to be.) Kakashi is visibly uncomfortable within his role as genin-sensei; Sakura feels a small, strange urge too see him interact with Anbu, because he was undoubtedly within their ranks.

Sakura is at once incredibly glad that she cannot see ghosts, because she is sure that this man would have countless.

And Naruto; Naruto is another story entirely. The jinchuuriki of Konoha; the boy who holds the bijuu. It didn’t take long at all to piece together, and the only true surprise involved (because it makes sense, it’s the only logical conclusion that explains the behaviour of everyone around them —) is that Sasuke has yet to say anything. He seems the type to comment, Sakura thinks, because however quiet he may be, however much he prefers to remain apart, Sasuke is not shy. He is proud and driven and shameless in his everything.

The more that Sakura thinks, the more she begins to believe that perhaps Sasuke _doesn’t_ know.

It is a strange and unfamiliar concept, her knowing more than him. She has a feeling that it won’t be new for long; as if to cement this, something catches her attention and she stops focusing on the world around her and when she glances at him out of the corner of her eye his skin his pale and his chest is bleeding and his gaze is so, so empty —

Yes. She will get used to knowing more than him.

(Naruto’s bright eyes dull and his smile falls and stress lines carve themselves into his face and his bones crack and reform and crack again —)

(Kakashi’s silver hair turns grey and his skin wrinkles and his spine crumples and his hidden eye is dripping blood —)

(Konoha’s walls are on fire and smoke darkens the sky and for a second, she thinks she can hear the _screams_ —)

She will get used to knowing more than all of them.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this one's a lot shorter, sorry, but chuunin exams are next!
> 
> also, if you're cool you'll slide into this _amazing_ [discord](https://discord.gg/Pa7TsBP) naruto chat group and say hi  
> 


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